THE USE AND ADVANCEMENT OF AN AFFORDABLE, ADAPTABLE ANTENNA POINTING MECHANISM

摘要

This paper describes Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd’srn(SSTL) legacy Antenna Pointing Mechanism (APM)rnand presents its flexibility to meet advancing andrndiffering mission system requirements of future smallrnLow Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. The dual-axisrnmechanism is responsible for steering an X-bandrnantenna towards and dynamically tracking a groundstationrnduring a downlink opportunity pass. In thisrnway the APM allows the antenna to provide up to tenrntimes the data throughput of conventional staticrnantennas used by SSTL previously. The SSTL APM isrna complete solution, which includes all electronics andrnradio frequency (RF) feed and antenna.rnThis paper captures an overview of the uniquerndevelopment cycle and qualification approach ofrnSSTL, here applied to the APM. The company allowsrnproduct paper-based concepts to be rapidly transformedrninto fully-qualified flight models delivered within 18rnmonths. The APM’s novel and flexible design,rncombined with SSTL’s distinctive strategy inrnqualifying commercial off the shelf (COTS)rncomponents allows the advanced product capability tornbe achieved cost-effectively, in line with SSTL’s goalrnof ‘changing the economics of space’.